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Sending GSM SMS

I am faced with a billing situation in an industrial application that only sends an SMS message when an alarm condition occurs (once in a blue moon). The cheapest way, on the face of it, would have been pay as you go, but I'm told by the supplier of the Siemens TC35 terminal we're using that the network providers have wised up to low usage and now in the small print they stipulate so much usage per month. He also told me that certain contracts could be had for about

5UKP per month (ball park figure presumably).

I'm wondering if anyone has faced a similar situation and how they dealt with it. If not, can someone recommend a network provider that does a PAYG that doesn't require a minimum usage a month, or a good contract?

Thanks

Brian Logan

Reply to
Brian Logan
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O2 pay-n-go doesn't have a minimum limit. Be prepared to receive calls with CID withheld if you'll use them -- a cold calls trying to con you into the contract. And there is no need to tell them where and what phone (or module) you are using the SIM card with.

Out of curiosity -- is the company you've tried T-Mobile by chance? They are the winner of "Stupid Security Contest" for "pointless and idiotic financial security measures" :)

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HTH, Vadim

Reply to
Vadim Borshchev

The O2 balance is text-based, obtained with *#10# command.

want

I have received a cold call from them the next day I've connected to PAYG. I rejected to give any names, addresses, previous numbers, etc -- and they didn't insist much.

haven't

"have

If you need to pay some minimum monthly, it is no more PAYG, it is pay-monthly contract. I got an offer from O2 (I could resist :) that if I spend at least £10 monthly on PAYG I'll get some additional messages, so it might be this. And I need to make at least one call in six months -- otherwise the network will consider my number dead.

Vadim

Reply to
Vadim Borshchev

Ah great! At least one provider other than Vodafone does it. :-)

You're right, I hadn't thought of it like that. These are all useful things to bear in mind when making a final decision as to which way to go and with which provider.

Thanks for your help.

Brian.

Reply to
Brian Logan

You might also consider Orange on their OVP Virgin Tarrif. This is the same tarrif as virgin (no line rental but postal billing). Orange have the advantage over Virgin of being a bit more switched on when you phone up for data numbers. I haven't checked the small print recently about minimum usage on this rate but monthly bills by post are easier to administer than traditional PAYG. We have similar "problems" with embedded applications which never make outgoing calls and only receive incoming data calls. In general these have all been Vodafone or Orange.

HTH

Iain

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Reply to
Iain Tebbutt

Interestingly enough, just that same tariff was suggested to me in the uk.telecom.mobile newsgroup. Sounds like the way to go. Save a lot of hassle with maintenance.

Thanks for your suggestion.

Brian.

Reply to
Brian Logan

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